The present invention relates generally to a reproducing apparatus and method, an information processing apparatus and method, a recording medium, and a program and, more particularly, to a reproducing apparatus and method, an information processing apparatus and method, a recording medium, and a program which, by centrally managing the locations of contents data stored in various reproducing apparatuses, allow the sharing of contents data between these reproducing apparatuses.
The number of types of reproducing apparatus for reproducing moving pictures accompanied with voice, music data, text data, and still pictures (hereafter generically referred to as contents data) is on the increase and today it is not an infrequent practice for one person to own plural reproducing apparatuses such as above. Besides, because these reproducing apparatuses have been getting smaller in size and lighter in weight, many users have come to carry these apparatuses with them.
If a single user uses plural reproducing apparatuses, it means that the contents data to be handled by the user are scattered over different reproducing apparatuses. Therefore, unless the information about what contents data are stored in which reproducing apparatus is organized in database by some method, the user must resort to his memory for finding desired data, music A for example. As the number of reproducing apparatuses used by the user increases and the number of pieces of contents data to be handled by the user increases, it becomes more difficult for the user to quickly and correctly locate the desired contents data.
For a method of organizing, into a database, the information about the relationships about contents data and reproducing apparatus in which they are stored, the use of a databases creating application program executable on personal computers may be proposed for example. However, because this requires the user to enter the information about the relationships between contents data and reproducing apparatus in which they are stored, it is difficult for those users who are not well familiar with personal computers to create databases.
Further, if a database exists, searching for desired contents data requires the setting of search conditions and other operations, which is bothersome for ordinary personal computer users.